Kenjiro Kitade “DROPS”: Hiroshima-Nagasaki 65 yrs

Remember, if you really want to reduce your carbon footprint/negative impact on the environment, say “no” to nukes.

Kenjiro Kitade Exhibiton

” DROPS “

65 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Ivy Brown Gallery is pleased to present “DROPS” (Aug 6- Nov 1) an exhibition
of sculpture by Kenjiro Kitade. The exhibition takes its title from the dropping of
the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kitade seeks to drop a powerful
mode of questioning into the midst of our complacency in the face of the
nuclear threat.
Many of the sculptures in the exhibit are curious figures with human bodies and
the heads of sheep. Traditionally sheep have been a symbol of obedience and
cowardice, and in the face of nuclear annihilation the metaphor is all the more
powerful.
The sculptures are grouped in scenes that fall into three categories of past,
present, future. Towards the start of the exhibit we are met by two figures from
the past named Agyho and Ungyo, the traditional guardians of temples in
Japan. Here it is hoped that the sacrifices of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will guard
against future nuclear proliferation. Later, in the present, we encounter eight
sheep-headed figures representing the nuclear and non-nuclear nations, each
holding apples of temptation. In another scene we are presented with a nuclear
game of chicken. Figures representing nuclear nations sit above an image of an
atomic blast. The viewer can press a “hot button” that makes the atomic image
flash, illustrating the choice that people have to engage in nuclear destruction
or not. Also in the show will be a small tree grown from seeds from a tree that
survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima, offering hope for the future. Kitade will
make the pot for the tree out of the same clay that he fashions his sculptures.

About the artist: Kenjiro Kitade was born in Tokyo, Japan in February 1977.
In 1995 he enrolled at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education,
majoring in Fine Art and also completed a masters program there, concentrating
in ceramic sculpture. Career highlights include the bronze at the World Ceramic
Exposition in South Korea in 2005, and later showing at the highly selective
SOFA show (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) in Chicago, Miami and New
York. Living and working in New York City, he participates in numerous art fairs
and exhibitions, working with several galleries nationally and internationally.

DROPS will open on Friday. Aug 6, and runs through Monday, Nov 1.

Gallery hours: Monday-Saturday, 12pm-6pm.

Opening reception – Friday, August 6th
from 6pm to 9pm.

Ivy Brown Gallery is located in the heart of the Meatpacking district at 675
Hudson Street, 4th floor (between W13th St and W14th St).